NABARD Grade A
Cut Off Decoded
Every stage, every discipline, every category — rebuilt line by line from NABARD’s own cut-off tables for the Assistant Manager Grade “A” recruitment. RDBS, Legal and Protocol & Security, with SC, ST, OBC, EWS, UR and all four PwBD tracks.
Updated 3 August 2026 · Reading time 11 minutes · Figures reproduced from the published NABARD notices
NABARD Mentorship Complete Course 2026 · Phase I Test Series · Free PDFs on Telegram
NABARD Grade A cut off at a glance
In the most recent NABARD Grade A (Assistant Manager, RDBS) cycle, the Unreserved cut off in the General discipline was 54.50 out of 100 in Prelims, 135.25 out of 200 in Mains, and 173.25 for the Final Select List where Mains and Interview are taken together. The Wait List closed at 169.00.
There is no single “NABARD cut off”. Prelims Unreserved bars ranged from 14.50 (Media Specialist) to 54.50 (General) — a 40-mark spread driven by how many vacancies each discipline had. Your discipline, not the exam, sets your target.
Three gates, three different scales
Comparing a Prelims mark with a Mains mark is the single most common mistake aspirants make. Each stage has its own paper, its own maximum and its own qualifying rules.
200-mark paper, only 100 marks are ranked
Qualifying only: Reasoning (20), English (30), Computer Knowledge (20), Quantitative Aptitude (20), Decision Making (10).
Merit section (100): General Awareness 20 + Economic & Social Issues 40 + Agriculture & Rural Development 40. Prelims marks are not carried into the final merit list.
Merit section total of 200 marks
Paper I: General English, descriptive, 100 marks.
Paper II: Economic & Social Issues and Agriculture & Rural Development for General; stream-specific for specialised disciplines — objective 50 + descriptive 50.
Group norms are applied separately to each part before the merit total is computed.
Mains and Interview taken together
NABARD publishes a Select List and a Wait List cut off. Ties are broken on Mains marks first, then on higher qualification, then on graduation marks, then on age — the senior candidate ranks higher.
This is the number that decides the job.
NABARD Grade A cut-off finder
Pick your discipline and your category to see all four published bars — Prelims, Mains, Select List and Wait List — side by side.
NABARD Grade A Prelims cut off 2026
Marks below are out of the 100-mark merit section. The qualifying sections have their own floor, which almost nobody talks about — and which a surprising number of candidates trip over.
| Category group | Reasoning /20 | English /30 | Computer /20 | Quant /20 | Decision /10 | Gen. Aware /20 | ESI /40 | ARD /40 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SC, ST, OBC, PwBD | 1.00 | 2.75 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 2.00 | 3.00 |
| EWS & Unreserved | 1.00 | 6.00 | 2.50 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 2.25 | 4.25 | 6.50 |
Chart could not load. The same figures are in the table below.
| Discipline | SC | ST | OBC | EWS | UR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General | 44.50 | 42.75 | 49.50 | 47.00 | 54.50 |
| Land Development & Soil Science | — | — | 36.25 | — | 42.00 |
| Plantation & Horticulture | — | — | 32.00 | — | 39.50 |
| Agriculture Engineering | — | — | — | — | 37.75 |
| Computer / Information Technology | 21.75 | 17.50 | 29.50 | 18.75 | 34.25 |
| Legal (separate notice) | — | — | — | — | 32.25 |
| Fisheries | — | 13.50* | — | — | 30.25 |
| Finance | 8.75* | 9.25* | 17.00 | — | 22.25 |
| Electrical Engineering | — | — | — | % | 19.25 |
| Civil Engineering | 18.25 | 17.75 | — | — | — |
| Economics | 16.75 | — | — | 17.50* | — |
| Chartered Accountant | 17.00# | — | 15.75* | — | 17.00* |
| Company Secretary | — | — | 15.75# | — | 15.75* |
| Food Processing | 15.25 | — | — | 21.25* | — |
| Media Specialist | — | — | — | — | 14.50* |
| PwBD — all RDBS disciplines | VI 22.25 · HI 11.75* · LD 28.75 · MD 8.75* | ||||
| Protocol & Security (total /200) | — | 58.25 | — | — | 98.75 |
— no vacancy * all qualified candidates merit listed, list cannot be extended # total kept at par with UR, list cannot be extended % all qualified candidates merit listed under UR on own merit
Sectional floors are exactly what a mock exam is for. Our NABARD Phase I Test Series for all streams mirrors the qualifying-plus-merit structure so you see both numbers after every attempt.
NABARD Grade A Mains cut off 2026
Out of 200. Mains rewrites the ranking completely — Computer / IT climbs from fifth-toughest in Prelims to the hardest gate in the whole exam, and General slips to fourth.
Chart could not load. The same figures are in the table below.
| Discipline | SC | ST | OBC | EWS | UR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Computer / Information Technology | 131.00 | 124.00* | 136.75 | 133.75 | 147.75 |
| Plantation & Horticulture | — | — | 131.25 | — | 139.00 |
| Land Development & Soil Science | — | — | 130.75 | — | 136.50 |
| General | 123.25 | 122.00 | 131.00 | 129.00 | 135.25 |
| Electrical Engineering | — | — | — | 128.50* | 130.50 |
| Legal (separate notice) | — | — | — | — | 129.50 |
| Chartered Accountant | # | — | 116.25* | — | 126.25 |
| Economics | 126.50 | — | — | 129.75 | — |
| Fisheries | — | 122.25* | — | — | 124.50* |
| Finance | 114.00 | 87.00* | 133.50 | — | 124.25 |
| Civil Engineering | 123.25 | # | — | — | — |
| Agriculture Engineering | — | — | — | — | 120.25 |
| Media Specialist | — | — | — | — | 120.00 |
| Food Processing | 97.75 | — | — | 109.25 | — |
| Company Secretary | — | — | 109.00* | — | # |
| PwBD — all RDBS disciplines | VI 115.25 · HI 121.75* · LD 116.50 · MD # | ||||
— no vacancy * all qualified candidates merit listed, list cannot be extended # no candidates qualified
Mains group norms — the hidden qualifying paper
Before your 200-mark merit total is even computed, you must clear a separate minimum in Paper I and in both halves of Paper II. Miss one and the merit total is never calculated.
| Discipline | Category group | Paper I · Descriptive /100 | Paper II · Objective /50 | Paper II · Descriptive /50 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General | SC, ST, OBC, PwBD | 56.50 | 18.75 | 27.00 |
| EWS & UR | 60.00 | 21.75 | 29.25 | |
| Chartered Accountant | SC, OBC, PwBD | 56.50 | 21.50 | 23.50 |
| ST, EWS & UR | 60.00 | 24.00 | 25.75 | |
| Company Secretary | OBC, PwBD | 56.50 | 20.25 | 19.50 |
| SC, ST, EWS & UR | 60.00 | 22.50 | 21.25 | |
| Finance | SC, ST, OBC, PwBD | 56.50 | 16.75 | 8.25 |
| EWS & UR | 60.00 | 20.25 | 14.25 | |
| Computer / IT | SC, ST, OBC, PwBD | 56.50 | 41.50 | 13.75 |
| EWS & UR | 60.00 | 43.00 | 17.75 | |
| Agriculture Engineering | PwBD | 56.50 | 24.50 | 21.75 |
| SC, ST, OBC, EWS & UR | 60.00 | 27.25 | 24.00 | |
| Plantation & Horticulture | OBC, PwBD | 56.50 | 44.50 | 20.75 |
| SC, ST, EWS, UR | 60.00 | 45.00 | 22.50 | |
| Fisheries | ST, PwBD | 56.50 | 31.00 | 26.50 |
| SC, OBC, EWS & UR | 60.00 | 33.25 | 28.50 | |
| Food Processing | SC & PwBD | 56.50 | 5.75 | 16.75 |
| EWS | 60.00 | 8.75 | 19.00 | |
| Land Development & Soil Science | OBC, PwBD | 56.50 | 32.75 | 26.50 |
| SC, ST, EWS & UR | 60.00 | 34.25 | 27.00 | |
| Civil Engineering | SC, ST & PwBD | 56.50 | 28.00 | 18.00 |
| Electrical Engineering | PwBD | 56.50 | 21.00 | 23.50 |
| SC, ST, OBC, EWS & UR | 60.00 | 24.00 | 25.25 | |
| Media Specialist | PwBD | 56.50 | 11.75 | 22.75 |
| SC, ST, OBC, EWS & UR | 60.00 | 15.00 | 25.25 | |
| Applied Economics | SC & PwBD | 56.50 | 13.75 | 18.75 |
| EWS | 60.00 | 18.75 | 21.25 | |
| Legal | All categories together | 61.75 | 31.75 | 17.75 |
Paper I General English, descriptive Paper II ESI + ARD for General, stream-specific paper for specialised disciplines
NABARD Grade A final cut off — the number that gets you the job
Computer / IT closed at 189.50 while Fisheries closed at 134.50. Same exam, same interview panel, 55 marks apart — because vacancy count, not paper difficulty, sets the final bar.
Chart could not load. The same figures are in the table below.
| Discipline | SC | ST | OBC | EWS | UR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Computer / Information Technology | 183.50 | 186.75 | 182.00 | 163.50 | 189.50 |
| Land Development & Soil Science | — | — | 179.75 | — | 188.75 |
| Finance | 126.50 | 105.75 | 168.75 | — | 177.50 |
| Legal (separate notice) | — | — | — | — | 176.00 |
| Plantation & Horticulture | — | — | 173.50 | — | 174.00 |
| General | 161.25 | 162.50 | 174.00 | 171.00 | 173.25 |
| Chartered Accountant | # | — | 146.25 | — | 172.50 |
| Economics | 172.75 | — | — | 173.00 | — |
| Civil Engineering | 178.25 | # | — | — | — |
| Electrical Engineering | — | — | — | 153.50 | 171.00 |
| Media Specialist | — | — | — | — | 163.50 |
| Agriculture Engineering | — | — | — | — | 157.50 |
| Food Processing | 132.00 | — | — | 158.50 | — |
| Company Secretary | — | — | 153.00 | — | # |
| Protocol & Security | — | 114.13 | — | — | 146.01 |
| Fisheries | — | 142.25 | — | — | 134.50 |
| PwBD — all RDBS disciplines | VI 144.50 · HH 131.75* · LD 164.25 · MD # | ||||
| Discipline | SC | ST | OBC | EWS | UR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Computer / Information Technology | 171.75 | 134.00 | 180.75 | 158.75 | 173.25 |
| Land Development & Soil Science | — | — | 171.50 | — | 171.50 |
| General | 157.50 | 157.00 | 172.00 | 168.00 | 169.00 |
| Plantation & Horticulture | — | — | 157.00 | — | 169.00 |
| Economics | 157.25 | — | — | 165.75 | — |
| Civil Engineering | 165.50 | # | — | — | — |
| Media Specialist | — | — | — | — | 162.00 |
| Legal (separate notice) | — | — | — | — | 159.75 |
| Finance | 124.25 | 92.00 | 158.50 | — | 158.75 |
| Food Processing | 119.25 | — | — | 157.25 | — |
| Chartered Accountant | # | — | 143.00 | — | 153.00 |
| Electrical Engineering | — | — | — | # | 150.50 |
| Agriculture Engineering | — | — | — | — | 150.25 |
| Protocol & Security | — | 98.25 | — | — | 139.13 |
| Company Secretary | — | — | # | — | # |
| Fisheries | — | # | — | — | # |
| PwBD — all RDBS disciplines | VI 143.00 · HH # · LD 160.00 · MD # | ||||
— no vacancy * all qualified candidates merit listed, list cannot be extended # no candidates qualified
1.50 marks between a job and a wait list
The Select List closed at 163.50 and the Wait List at 162.00. That is half a descriptive answer, or one better response in the interview.
4.25 marks in the most crowded stream
The biggest discipline in the exam had the second-narrowest gap — proof that at the top of the General pool, hundreds of candidates are packed into a handful of marks.
The myth of the “easy category”
Reserved does not mean lower. Category cut offs are a function of how many seats were reserved in that discipline — which is why an OBC bar can finish above the Unreserved bar, and why an ST bar can sit 70 marks below it in the same stream.
174.00 > 173.25
In the General discipline the OBC Final Select List cut off finished 0.75 marks above Unreserved. Plantation & Horticulture was almost level too, at a 0.50-mark difference.
71.75 marks from ST to UR
ST closed at 105.75 in the Finance Select List while UR needed 177.50. Vacancy distribution, not paper difficulty, creates gaps this large.
Chart could not load. The same figures are in the Final Select List table above.
Chart could not load.
PwBD cut offs — VI, HI, LD and MD
NABARD publishes a single PwBD figure across all RDBS disciplines rather than one per discipline. All four categories are shown below at every stage.
| Stage | VI · Cat A | HI · Cat B | LD · Cat C | MD · Cat D & E |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prelims (merit /100) | 22.25 | 11.75* | 28.75 | 8.75* |
| Mains (merit /200) | 115.25 | 121.75* | 116.50 | # |
| Final Select List | 144.50 | 131.75* | 164.25 | # |
| Wait List | 143.00 | # | 160.00 | # |
* all qualified candidates merit listed # no candidates qualified
Legal and Protocol & Security
Both are notified separately from RDBS and both had Unreserved vacancies only. Protocol & Security does not even sit the same paper.
Prelims 32.25 → Mains 129.50 → Select 176.00
Wait List closed at 159.75. The striking number is the group norm: Legal candidates had to score 61.75 out of 100 in General English alone — the single highest qualifying norm anywhere in the cycle. Paper II norms were 31.75 objective and 17.75 descriptive.
No Phase II at all — one 200-mark paper
Reasoning 50, English 25, General Awareness 50 and Professional Knowledge 75 — more than a third of the paper. Online exam cut off: UR 98.75, ST 58.25. Final Select List: UR 146.01, ST 114.13. Wait List: UR 139.13, ST 98.25. The two-decimal figures are a normalisation artefact you will not see anywhere in RDBS.
| Category | Reasoning /50 | English /25 | General Awareness /50 | Professional Knowledge /75 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ST | 5.50 | 8.50 | 5.25 | 20.75 |
| SC, OBC, EWS, UR, PwBD | 10.25 | 10.75 | 7.25 | 26.25 |
Expected NABARD Grade A cut off 2026
The table below is a Clarity 4 Sure estimate, built by holding the previous cycle’s bar and widening it for the two things that actually move a NABARD cut off: the vacancy count in your discipline and the difficulty of the ESI and ARD sections. NABARD has not published anything for the next cycle.
| Discipline | Prelims /100 | Mains /200 | Final Select |
|---|---|---|---|
| General | 51 – 59 | 131 – 140 | 169 – 178 |
| Computer / Information Technology | 31 – 38 | 143 – 152 | 185 – 194 |
| Land Development & Soil Science | 38 – 46 | 132 – 141 | 184 – 193 |
| Plantation & Horticulture | 36 – 43 | 135 – 143 | 170 – 178 |
| Agriculture Engineering | 34 – 41 | 116 – 125 | 153 – 162 |
| Finance | 19 – 26 | 120 – 129 | 173 – 182 |
| Legal | 29 – 36 | 125 – 134 | 172 – 180 |
| Electrical Engineering | 16 – 23 | 126 – 135 | 167 – 175 |
| Chartered Accountant | 14 – 21 | 122 – 131 | 168 – 177 |
| Fisheries | 26 – 34 | 120 – 129 | 130 – 145 |
| Media Specialist | 12 – 19 | 116 – 125 | 159 – 168 |
| Protocol & Security (/200) | 94 – 104 | no Phase II | 142 – 151 |
Estimate prepared by Clarity 4 Sure from one published cycle. Treat it as a planning band, not a promise — a change in vacancies can move any of these numbers by ten marks or more. We revise these bands the day a new notification drops — follow the Telegram channel for the update.
Four things the data tells you to do differently
Aim at your discipline’s UR bar
Reserved does not reliably mean lower. Set the Unreserved number as your target regardless of category, and treat any relaxation as a cushion rather than a plan.
Do not ignore the qualifying sections
The merit list comes from GA, ESI and ARD, but English at 6.00 out of 30 and ARD at 6.50 out of 40 still have to be cleared. Every year candidates with strong merit scores are knocked out on a sectional floor.
Start interview preparation in week one
Forty marks of movement, on average, sit between the Mains bar and the Select List bar. That is more than most candidates gain from a second revision of ARD.
Treat English as a scoring paper, not a formality
Paper I is descriptive and carries a group norm of 56.50 to 61.75 out of 100. Legal candidates needed 61.75 in English alone. Writing practice is the cheapest marks in this exam — English4Sure on Telegram posts free descriptive material and model answers.
NABARD Grade A cut off FAQ
What was the NABARD Grade A cut off for the General discipline?
For Unreserved candidates in RDBS General: Prelims 54.50 out of 100, Mains 135.25 out of 200, Final Select List 173.25 (Mains + Interview), Wait List 169.00. Category bars were SC 161.25, ST 162.50, OBC 174.00 and EWS 171.00 in the Select List.
Is the NABARD Grade A cut off lower for SC, ST, OBC and EWS candidates?
Not always. In the General discipline the OBC Select List cut off of 174.00 finished 0.75 marks above the Unreserved bar of 173.25. Category cut offs follow the vacancy count in that discipline, so they can land above or far below UR. Plan for the Unreserved number.
Which discipline had the highest NABARD Grade A cut off?
Computer / Information Technology, at both Mains (147.75 out of 200) and the Final Select List (189.50). In Prelims the toughest gate was the General discipline at 54.50 out of 100.
Are Prelims marks counted in the NABARD Grade A final merit list?
No. Phase I is purely a screening stage. The final merit list is built from Phase II Mains marks out of 200 plus the interview, taken together.
How many marks does the interview add?
Across eleven Unreserved streams the Final Select List bar sat an average of 40.39 marks above the Mains bar. Finance moved the most at +53.25 and Fisheries the least at +10.00.
What is a safe score for NABARD Grade A Prelims?
It depends entirely on your discipline. Unreserved Prelims bars ran from 14.50 (Media Specialist) to 54.50 (General). For the General discipline, 60 or above out of the 100-mark merit section is a comfortable position; for Computer / IT, around 40.
What does the “#” symbol mean in a NABARD cut off notice?
“#” means no candidates qualified in that category and discipline, so no cut off could be published. “*” means every qualified candidate was merit listed, so the list could not be extended further. “—” means there was no vacancy at all.
How are ties broken in the NABARD Grade A merit list?
Higher Mains marks rank first. If those are equal, the candidate with the higher qualification ranks higher; if qualifications match, higher graduation marks decide; and if there is still a tie, the candidate senior in age ranks higher.
What these numbers look like when you clear them
Every bar on this page is somebody’s result. Here is what the last cycle produced at Clarity 4 Sure — the candidates who cleared the Select List, and the ones who came within a whisker of it.
NABARD Grade A toppers — in their own words
Full interview playlist: which sections they prioritised, how they prepared the descriptive paper, and what the interview panel actually asked.
Watch on YouTube →NABARD Grade A 2026 resources
Everything referenced in this article, in one place — the full mentorship programme, the Phase I test series, and two free Telegram channels for daily updates and PDFs.
NABARD Mentorship Complete Course 2026
Stage-wise targets for your exact discipline, descriptive answer evaluation, and interview preparation from week one — the forty marks the data says decide selection.
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Join @Clarity4Sure → FREE · YOUTUBENABARD Grade A toppers from Clarity 4 Sure
Selected candidates walk through their actual strategy — section priorities, descriptive answer practice and interview preparation.
Watch the playlist → FREE · TELEGRAMEnglish descriptive updates & PDFs
Essay and précis practice, model answers and vocabulary PDFs for Paper I — the descriptive paper carrying a group norm of up to 61.75 out of 100.
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Stage-wise targets for your exact discipline. Descriptive answer evaluation. Interview preparation built in from week one — because the data says that is where forty marks are won.
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